Zoë's Dublin Diary: What to Do This Week

Open House Dublin is launching into its tenth year with a debate on housing. It’s not just a timely event, but a chance to get educated and involved in what can be done about our ongoing housing crisis, both immediately and in the future planning of the city. The Economic and Social Research Institute’s Frances Ruane will chair the event, and the panel will include Claire McManus (Open Architects), Geraldine Kennedy (property developer), Ian McShane (MD of market-research agency Behaviour & Attitudes), Kieran Rose (planner and human rights campaigner) and Lorcan Sirr (lecturer in urban economics and housing at DIT). Details here, free tickets here.

Thursday, 15 October – 1815 magazine launch, 18:00, BYOB, The Hideout

1815 is a new photography magazine that’s setting out to focus on quality, not quantity. Created by photographers Fiachra Corcoran, Emil Hernon and Eimhin Joyce, the handmade publication will also feature analogue photography and, in the case of their first issue, a special focus on time spent in New York City. It’ll be released monthly, and in limited runs of only 30 copies. Launch night promises pool and refreshments. Details here.

There’s a bucketload of events at this year’s spoken-word festival, but it’s all kicking off on Friday with the alarmingly named Tongue Fu, a smorgasbord of live literature, music and general improv. The bard for the night is John Moynes, and Chris Redmond will be on emcee duties. Be sure to catch the annual high-octane poetry slam on Saturday, and Words With Teeth on Sunday, featuring two teams of young Irish writers and an hour-long oratorical skirmish. Tongue Fu tickets here; Lingo Festival programme, tickets and Facebook event

Modern Magic is a new series of club nights promising left-of-centre, progressive electronica, curated by Big Dish Go and Signal Code. Their opening night looks auspicious. The multifaceted and many-faced Luke Vibert is headlining, preceded by synthesizer maverick Alexander Robotnik, Automatic Tasty and Simon Conway. Vibert has produced under monikers, including, but not limited to, Wagon Christ, Plug and Kerrier District. Details here and here.

The inimitable poet/performer/fun-facilitator Paul Timoney has ‘smushed’ together a collection of stories from children and young people, from Ireland and elsewhere, and will be using his work and theirs to put on a family show. In his work as a performer and teacher, Paul has facilitated projects like the The Stuck Hedgehog story book and, more recently, Saint Brigid’s Cloak, created by the students of Saint Brigid’s School in Mullingar. Tickets here, Facebook event here.

The Arab-Israeli Six-Day War of 1967 was a bubbling-over of tension following on from the 1948 formation of Israeli. It resulted in major territorial gains for Israel, celebrated by that country as a triumph, and heavy losses for Egypt. These candid testimonials from the Israeli soldiers embroiled in the conflict expose their disillusionment with the invasion and empathy with the Arab refugees. Details and tickets here.

Tuesday, 20 October – Nightshade, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery

Paul Nugent’s Nightshade series marks a shift from his lavish interrogation of orientalism to a more immediately symbolic focus. Using delicately illuminated brambles and weeds, these new paintings look to question our value systems by casting some of the most prosaic items of the natural world as sacred objects. Even when not the focal point, they act as stimulating points of convergence within his forest scenes, and add a thrum of vitality. Details here.